Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

"Uncle, let's go to the mountain to play with the little sheep!"

"Uncle, the little squirrel is so cute, let's help it make a nest."

"Uncle..."

Chen Ying sighed, realizing that thinking having a kid around was nice was definitely a moment of madness.

It's not that kids are bad; it's just he can't enjoy this kind of blessing.

The word "uncle" was like Sun Wukong's golden headband, almost driving him to the brink of collapse.

Luckily, right before the holiday, the little girl's parents came back to pick her up. Otherwise, Chen Ying was considering altering his plan to confess early and then make a run for it.

On December 30th, Chen Ying and Old Gao went out and only returned around seven or eight in the evening.

As they parked, they looked suspiciously sneaky, which amused the villa estate's staff. They turned around and reported this situation to Dao Meihua.

Dao Meihua glanced at the surveillance sent over and told them not to worry. Just these two, even given more courage, wouldn't do anything earth-shattering.

As New Year's approached, many tourists came to visit this place.

The bottom-most strip in the villa area is the hotel section.

From ordinary hotels at the bottom to various specialty villas on the mountain, all are available.

However, the hotel villa area is separated from the private villa area by a greenbelt and a bush landscape belt.

Although the hotel villas were fully booked, the two sides did not interfere with each other, so it didn't feel too noisy.

For Chen Ying to execute his confession plan the next day properly, he even went to the villa management to ask the butler to help clear a small space, ensuring no outside disturbances. He specifically instructed them to keep it secret, especially not to let Dao Meihua know what he was up to.

After being pulled around by Chen Ying and broadly understanding his idea, the butler promised to help him with his plan, holding back laughter.

Chen Ying and Old Gao checked off items from their plan, and most were completed. The remaining details required animals and had to wait until the next day.

"Alright, everything's ready except for the east wind. Tomorrow, when you bring the furry ones over, it'll all be set."

After finishing, they noticed it was already 1 a.m., feeling a bit hungry, so they decided to go to the food street outside the ancient town for some barbecue.

With many tourists around, there were also many people having late-night snacks.

The warm climate meant that people were seated outside each late-night food stall.

They found a random place to sit, ordered some food, and quietly discussed plans for the next year.

They hadn't conversed much when they heard a mother scolding her child in front of them.

"I told you not to touch it, didn't I? Can't you listen? You touched something dirty and then grabbed food to eat. Do you want to get sick and end up in the hospital? Can you behave while we're out?"

With her loud scolding, two children started crying.

The children's cries further destabilized her emotions, so much so that even bystanders thought she might go crazy.

The father of the children must have been out buying drinks, and upon hearing the commotion, rushed over, hugging his wife's shoulders to calm her down and telling the kids not to cry.

The two young couples sitting next to them also helped soothe the children, and even the owner came over to apologize, saying he hadn't noticed a stray cat approaching and offered them a discount, as well as a few extra skewers.

After some fuss, the family decided not to stay and eat. The dad asked the owner to pack up the barbecue to take away.

Everyone thought it was a minor incident and, after discussing it for a while, no one brought it up again.

As the skewers Chen Ying ordered arrived, just after he took a bite of one, a small meow was heard from beside them.

Looking down, he saw a slightly dirty, thin and small calico cat.

Chen Ying put on gloves, tore a small piece of meat without chili, washed it with tea, and placed it in front of the kitten.

Normally, you're not supposed to feed kittens this, but stray cats are not picky with food. What Chen Ying offered was already a delicacy hard for it to encounter.

Watching the little creature "meow meow" while wolfing down the food, Old Gao went to ask the owner for an unseasoned fish, washed it, placed it on a disposable plate, and set it before the kitten.

The kitten had never tasted a whole, fresh fish; it almost didn't know where to start.

After chewing a couple of bites, it suddenly stopped, ears perked up, head turning toward its rear.

Whatever it heard, the next second, it grabbed the fish, which was half its size, and ran off quickly.

Unfortunately, it became blurry at five meters, making it hard to discern specifics. Moreover, the kitten seemed to have slipped into the bushes, and since it didn't return after a while, they finished eating and left.

At only three o'clock did they go to sleep, and by a little past eight the next morning, Dao Meihua came knocking on the door.

"Rescue?"

"Yes, just received a call from the Ancient Town Police Station. Some tourists reported their two children missing."

"Did it happen in this villa area?" Chen Ying asked while quickly getting dressed and putting on shoes, "Did the surveillance capture where they went and in which direction?"

"They were staying at a homestay outside the ancient town. When the kids left, it was around six o'clock. The front desk was busy checking out guests, so they didn't notice the kids going out. Checking the ancient town's surveillance, the last place they appeared was at the Pavilion Bridge."

Chen Ying looked up sharply at her, "Pavilion Bridge? The one over the river?"

"Yes. The town has already arranged for people to search along the river, but nothing has been found as of now. While searching, a tourist on a morning run said he saw two kids on the west side of the bridge. He asked them, and the kids mentioned they were staying at the inn nearby, so he left."

The west side of the Pavilion Bridge is a three-way junction, with one path following the river downstream as a developed scenic path. There's an ancient suspension bridge downstream that has now been closed off.